Entrepreneurs Collaborate on Business Start-Ups

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(Memphis) How do you change Memphis and the world?

A group of dreamers, innovators, and entrepreneurs met in Midtown to figure out how to make those changes through business start-ups.

Friday, It was a meeting of ideas, where entrepreneurs and innovators teamed with resources, mentors and tools.

“It takes a village to raise a start-up,” said Elizabeth Lemmonds, with Launch Memphis. “This is just one way that we're helping to provide that village.”

Forward-thinkers gathered one-on-one in a circle to do what they call “speed-pitching”.

It’s like speed dating but for ideas.

Each innovator gets two minutes to pitch an idea and then three minutes of feedback. Then they move on to the next person.

It's just one of the free exercises Launch Memphis offered Friday to help start-ups refine their ideas during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

“This is what births the new, it drives the economy. It creates jobs. It creates new wealth and it is really about what changes the world,” said Lemmonds.

Its ideas like Xtrant that James Sposto developed. It's an online service that helps companies connect with its vendors and clients through a cloud service. It's now ready for the public.

“We just launched our soft launch and I want to get a few more entrepreneurs exposed to our product because they can use it for their businesses,” said Sposto.

After all, Sposto claims Memphis is the perfect place take an idea and make it a reality, “There are so many things that have come out of Memphis and changed the world and there is an entrepreneurial spirit here that's very unique, it's a very authentic place and it’s a place where, if you're willing to work hard, you're willing to think hard, people will give you opportunities."

For those who have a business idea and would love help getting it off the ground, there will be more free events like this one. Just go here: http://www.launchmemphis.com/